site.btaUPDATED President Says She Picked Gurov because Only He Is Resigning as Central Bank Deputy Governor

"I selected Andrey Gurov because he was the only one resigning his office as deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB)," Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova told a news conference at the President's Administration on Thursday after mandating Gurov, in his capacity as caretaker prime minister, to propose a line-up of a caretaker cabinet.

"The doubts about a conflict of interest are eliminated. I don't entertain any doubts about a political commitment of the rest of the institutions: the BNB, the National Ombudsman and the Bulgarian National Audit Office," the head of State added. 

In July 2023, Gurov was elected by Parliament BNB Deputy Governor for a six-year term. In June 2024, the Anti-Corruption Commission found him incompatible with this office by reason of a conflict of interest because when taking up his post at the central bank he was a partner in a commercial corporation and a member of governing bodies of non-governmental organizations, without having obtained permission from the bank's Governing Council. Pending a ruling by the court and a resolution by Parliament on whether Gurov may serve as central bank deputy governor and Governing Council member, the BNB Governing Council suspended Gurov from the exercise of his powers. At the end of 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), acting at the request of Gurov's defence, opened a case concerning his case. The CJEU was approached by Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court for a preliminary ruling on eight questions related to the interpretation of provisions of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks, the European Central Bank, and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Iotova pointed out that the latest amendments to the Constitution left the presidential institution with no choice, the idea having been to curtail the president's powers at variance with the fundamental philosophy of the Bulgarian Constitution. "Each candidate [for caretaker PM] was pre-elected by the National Assembly, by political majority," she added.

According to the President, instead of selecting the best suited person for this office in a critical situation, the choice was now reduced to whether that person is from the status quo or from the opposition.

Under the Constitution as last amended, the President of the Republic is limited to a pool of ten senior public officials from among whom to chose a caretaker PM: the National Assembly Chair, the central bank governor and the three deputy governors, the Bulgarian National Audit Office president and the two vice presidents, and the National Ombudsman and the deputy ombudsman.